1954 Avro Shackleton Mr2

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Discussion

PeetBee

1,036 posts

255 months

Wednesday 25th January 2017
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There's a taxi run taking place this Saturday (28th) and I believe an evening engine run planned for February, so it's sounding much more positive this year smile

I've no idea if there's still spaces on board for the taxi run, but I'm sure it'll be fun to watch regardless!

richw_82

992 posts

186 months

Wednesday 25th January 2017
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This Saturday (28th Jan) One possibly two taxy runs, as we have some pilot training going on so we can be sure we always have sufficient crew available. There are spaces available for rides!

25th Feb - Timeline Events photoshoot (Taxy run and Night run.)

11 Mar - WR963 is 63 years old! Birthday celebration and taxy run.


There'll be an update soon, but we're working hard to regain lost ground.







NelsonM3

1,685 posts

171 months

Monday 20th December 2021
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Any updates? 🙂

lufbramatt

5,345 posts

134 months

Tuesday 21st December 2021
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They have been posting stuff on their Facebook page, so still ticking along and doing engine runs. Appears they are going to be repainting it soon.

The groups/groups looking after it seem to have been beset by more than the usual amount of internal politics and fallouts, sadly, which seems to have delayed any big developments or progress.

MrBig

2,694 posts

129 months

Thursday 6th January 2022
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It now looks like there are plans afoot to build a gigafactory on the site of Coventry airport, so I'm not sure what the future now holds for the Shackleton and all of the other aircraft housed there.

There is an open day this coming Saturday which I'm hoping to get along to. (I don't know the full details of any of the current ongoing situation, I just found about this event on facebook and I want to support the Save Coventry Airport group and those trying to resurrect the Shackleton)



aeropilot

34,610 posts

227 months

Thursday 6th January 2022
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MrBig said:
It now looks like there are plans afoot to build a gigafactory on the site of Coventry airport, so I'm not sure what the future now holds for the Shackleton and all of the other aircraft housed there.
The museum and its aircraft are not at risk, as the plans for the factory show the museum retained on site.

The Shack and the Nimrod however, are not part of the museum, and are privately owned. Not sure what will happen to the Nimrod, but I've seen a member of the Shack owners group post elsewhere that they have a backup plan to move the Shack to another site, but the cost of doing so is not a cheap exercise.

richw_82

992 posts

186 months

Saturday 8th January 2022
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Hi all.

Long time since I've been here but a friend alerted me that this thread had resurfaced. A server migration lost all the photos that I'd posted on a number of forums and after that I more or less abandoned them as it was a hell of a lot of work to try and recover. There was also the aforementioned internal politics that our group suffered, they have largely been laid to rest and we've been carrrying on work - the biggest issue after getting back on an even keel was Covid. No visitors and no run ups meant no income!

Yes, there's a Gigafactory planned, and all the planning issues going on currently - ultimately we'd hate to move, but if we have to we will; and we have two sites that we've been looking at and negotiating with. As has been seen with the Bruntingthorpe, Long Marston, and more recently the Manchester examples being moved a Shackleton does come apart fairly easy for road transport.

Most of our recent updates are on Facebook.

Regards,

Rich

Yertis

18,052 posts

266 months

Wednesday 9th November 2022
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Just resurrecting this so that we can (hopefully) see when the fuel is gong to 'burned off' smile

richw_82

992 posts

186 months

Wednesday 9th November 2022
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Hi Yertis -

I stopped updating this thread (and other forums) while back after losing a lot of photos of the work we were carrying out. The Facebook page was the only place unaffected as photos were uploaded to the platform itself rather than linked.

The next engine run up is on 26 November, at Coventry Airport. As has been the way, once inside there are no barriers around the Shackleton, with access only being limited for the pre-start checks and during the run up itself. Otherwise you can walk up to, around and in the aircraft.

https://www.avroshackleton.co.uk/events

No 4 engine is currently unserviceable, so it will be a run up of three engines only.

The next run up after is 10 Dec and is a night run/photoshoot, organised by Threshold Aero. It is the last night run we will carry out at Coventry.

https://thresholdaero.ticketsrv.co.uk/tickets/39

Run ups will continue approximately one a month, until May 2023. Then we have to start dismantling to move the aircraft to Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington.

williamp

19,260 posts

273 months

Wednesday 9th November 2022
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Tganks for the update. Its a great aircraft and a great project.

Is the ultimate aim to be flyable??

richw_82

992 posts

186 months

Thursday 10th November 2022
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Its always been the ultimate goal.

Technically its feasible, but its improbable. The work we do currently is to ensure the aircraft doesn't deteriorate to a point where it couldn't fly again.

The move to Elvington is planned to take that intoaccount, we're not going to be chopping through wiring looms and stuff.

V41LEY

2,893 posts

238 months

Thursday 5th January 2023
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richw_82 said:
Its always been the ultimate goal.

Technically its feasible, but its improbable. The work we do currently is to ensure the aircraft doesn't deteriorate to a point where it couldn't fly again.

The move to Elvington is planned to take that intoaccount, we're not going to be chopping through wiring looms and stuff.
Saw your appeal on FB to help with the move and very happy to contribute. Against the odds, but this is a great project and I’d love to see her airborne again. Good luck.

richw_82

992 posts

186 months

Thursday 5th January 2023
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Thank you - it all helps.

As I said in a previous post, its a very outside chance that WR963 will ever fly, but we continue to maintain her in the hope that one day she will. At worst it means we'll have a running Shackleton for many years to come which is no bad thing in itself.